This specification relates to the collection of data regarding user interaction events.
The Internet has evolved from a network of interconnected defense computers, to a relatively sparse network of academic institutions, to the current commercialized worldwide network that it is today. The Internet has developed into a major new medium for not just distributing information, but also for selling and advertising goods and services.
Publishers of web pages, in order to present their content in a manner that is conducive to achieving a website goal (e.g., educating visitors about a given topic, directing visitors to a specific subset of the information on the website, selling goods or services, and/or directing a visitor's attention to one or more included advertisements) often desire specific data regarding how visitors interact with a website. One source of this data is the server logs of a web server hosting a given website. Unfortunately, the information provided by basic server logs is generally limited.
Web analytics systems provide a way for publishers to obtain more detailed information regarding visitor interactions with their site. For example, an analytics provider can supply a website publisher with script code for insertion into one or more web pages for which analytics information is desired. The scripts can direct a visitor's web browser to transmit information to the analytics provider to supply a more complete picture of visitor provider generally offers a user interface for participating web publishers to access the collected analytics data.
Popular modern Internet sites are now characterized by dynamic web content with, for example, Flash videos, Ajax widgets, feeds, etc. Merely tracking web page views is no longer sufficient for gauging visitor activities.